After a miserable summer at the box office, theaters were packed with moviegoers excited to voluntarily dive face first into clown-based trauma. Director Andy Muschietti’s adaptation of Stephen King It has already racked up record breaking numbers and warm reviews and naturally the filmmaker has an idea of where things will go next.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Muschietti laid out some details on what’s to come. We’ll still see the kids from the first film, but they’re going to exist in the memories of the Losers Club.
“On the second movie, that dialogue between timelines will be more present,” he said. “If we’re telling the story of adults, we are going to have flashbacks that take us back to the ‘80s and inform the story in the present day.”
The director stresses that the kids aren’t going to just be back as a novelty. According to Muschietti, “they’re a very big part of the action.” In his telling of the story, things go to a darker place for Mike Hanlon (played in the first movie by Chosen Jacobs) with a future bleaker than the source material.
“My idea of Mike in the second movie is quite darker from the book,” said Muschietti. “I want to make his character the one pivotal character who brings them all together, but staying in Derry took a toll with him. I want him to be a junkie actually. A librarian junkie. When the second movie starts, he’s a wreck.”
Andy and his producer/writer sister Barbara Muschietti also chatted with Variety during their publicity rounds. When it was suggested that Jessica Chastain (who starred in their 2013 film Mama) resembles a grown-up version of star Sophia Lillis, Andy Muschietti seemed game to roll with that casting idea.
“I don’t know, does she?” he laughed in response. “Jessi is an amazing actress and very good friend and I would love her to play Beverly.”
Barbara noted that Chastain was a fan of It and Andy stressed nothing’s locked down for casting just yet on that second film.
“She loves the movie and it feels like the planets are aligned in that sense, but we still have to make that happen,” offered Andy. “There are a lot of ideas for the rest of the cast that I’m playing with, but it’s a bit too premature to say those names right now.”
Of course, the kids from It have their own ideas on who should make up the grown-up cast.
(Via Entertainment Weekly & Variety)
